1 Kings 14:28
in 1 Kings 14And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guards would bear the shields, and later they would return them to the guardroom.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it was so, that, as oft as the king went into the house of Jehovah, the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.
KJV
And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.
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This verse in 1 Kings 14
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
It appears from this verse that Rehoboam, notwithstanding that he encouraged, and perhaps secretly practiced, idolatry (1Ki 14:22-24, compare 1Ki 15:3, 1Ki 15:12; 2Ch 12:1), maintained a public profession of faith in Yahweh, and attended in state the temple services. Compare the conduct of Solomon, 1Ki 9:25.
This site's exposition
made in their stead brasen shields
on 1 Kings 14:27-28
Rehoboam cannot restore the gold, so he replaces the shields with brass and posts guards to carry them for the king's appearances at the temple, a substitution the text records without comment. The house Solomon filled with brass furnishings by the ton at 7:45-47 now supplies brass for a king's show of glory, the same metal running downhill from temple vessel to royal prop within a few chapters of its casting. Verse 28 has the guard fetch the shields out for each appearance and return them to the guard chamber afterward, the ceremony kept up over a glory already gone.
This site's exposition
the guards would bear the shields
Albert Barnes notes that Rehoboam still went to the house of the LORD in state while idols spread in Judah at verses 22 to 24. Matthew Henry reads the bronze shields as a sign of glory lost. Lamentations 4:1 mourns gold grown dull.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It was strange that David would marry his son Solomon to an Ammonitess (for it was done while he lived), but it is probable that Solomon was in love with her, because she was Naamah, a beauty (so it signifies), and his father was loth to cross him, but it proved to have a very bad influence upon posterity.
This was an emblem of the diminution of his glory. Sin makes the gold become dim, changes the most fine gold, and turns it into brass. We commend Rehoboam for going to the house of the Lord, perhaps the oftener for the rebuke he had been under, and do not condemn him for going in pomp.
And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord,.... The temple; for though he had fallen into idolatry, he had not wholly forsaken the worship of God in the temple, and perhaps by the late humbling providence he might be stirred up to attend there more frequently: that the guard bare them: before him, partly for pomp and grandeur, and partly to keep in awe such as were inclined to mutiny and sedition: and brought them back into the guard chamber; when the king returned, the place where the guard lodged and slept by turns.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The guard bare them - The guard probably were just three hundred, answering to the number of the shields.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֛י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מִדֵּי־ | midei- | as often as | H1767 → | |
| בֹ֥א | vo' | went | H935 → | 2568 times |
| הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| יִשָּׂאוּם֙ | yisaum | they carried them | H5375 → | 656 times |
| הָֽרָצִ֔ים | haratzim | the runners | H7323 → | 103 times |
| וֶהֱשִׁיב֖וּם | veheshivum | and they returned them | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| תָּ֥א | ta' | [the] guardroom of | H8372 → | |
| הָרָצִֽים׃ | haratzim | the runners | H7323 → | 103 times |
וַיְהִ֛יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
מִדֵּי־as often as
midei-H1767 →
בֹ֥אwent
vo'H935 →2568 times
הַמֶּ֖לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
יִשָּׂאוּם֙they carried them
yisaumH5375 →656 times
הָֽרָצִ֔יםthe runners
haratzimH7323 →103 times
וֶהֱשִׁיב֖וּםand they returned them
veheshivumH7725 →1056 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
תָּ֥א[the] guardroom of
ta'H8372 →
הָרָצִֽים׃the runners
haratzimH7323 →103 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.